Squad Update | Greencore Munster Rugby Academy Return To Training

The Greencore Munster Rugby Academy have returned to training today at their temporary new base at Thomond Park after an extended off-season.

To minimise the number of people in the High Performance Centre, the Academy have made the move to Thomond.

Speaking about the Academy’s return, Elite Player Development Manager Peter Malone said: “It’s very exciting to be back in. We’re training in a separate bubble from the seniors now and following all of the protocols, everything is being done to minimise risk. We’re going to be completely isolated in our training group so if Academy players need to move up to the senior group, they’re training in isolation as well.

“The Academy are going to have their own standalone bubble in Thomond Park and a lot of work and organisation has gone into setting it up.

“The staff at Thomond Park have been excellent. We’ve set up a gym under the West Stand and we’re going to train on the back pitch.

“We had to purchase some equipment and we had to bring some things from the HPC, we obviously couldn’t bring a lot as the seniors are training full-time in the HPC.

“The staff in Thomond Park helped put it [the gym] together – our S&C and fitness coaches have been very good in basically putting together a  bespoke gym with two weeks’ notice.

“The pitch looks great and we have everything we need. We have our gym, we have our pitch and that’s all we need for the moment to get going.”

15 players have been confirmed for the 2020/21 Academy – with the possibility of further additions over the coming months. Of those 15, six have been training with the senior squad.

Thomas Ahern (lock), Jake Flannery (out-half/full-back), James French (prop) and Ben Healy (out-half) trained with the senior players for the entire first four-week bloc of training with Jack Crowley (out-half) and Josh Wycherley (prop) joining them last week.

Those six players are now on a down week as part of the senior team’s training schedule.

Eoin O’Connor (lock) is continuing to rehab a knee injury with the remaining eight Academy players taking part in their first training session of the season today.

New additions Scott Buckley and Alex Kendellen joined Jack Daly, Seán French, Eoghan Clarke, Jonathan Wren, John Hodnett and Paddy Kelly for the first training session of the new season.

Greencore Munster Rugby Academy Squad – 2020/21

Year Three: Thomas Ahern (Lock/Shannon), Jack Daly (Back-row forward/Garryowen), Ben Healy (Out-half/Garryowen), James French (Prop/UCC), Seán French (Centre/Cork Constitution), Eoghan Clarke (Hooker/Shannon), Jonathan Wren (Back three/Cork Constitution), Josh Wycherley (Prop/Young Munster).

Year Two: Jake Flannery (Out-half/Shannon), John Hodnett (Back-row forward/UCC), Paddy Kelly (Lock/Young Munster), Eoin O’Connor (Lock/Waterpark RFC).

Year One: Scott Buckley (Hooker/UCC), Jack Crowley (Out-half/Cork Constitution), Alex Kendellen (Back-row forward/PBC).